Oh, I think the jumping up and down and clapping and crying out "hallelujah" told me everything I needed to know about the intellectual integrity of those congregants.
Unfortunately, I was also NOT surprised by any of it.
While I couldn't see in, I could hear their carols and their enthusiasm out on the sidewalk. I was struck by their spirituality, although I wouldn't have called it that back then. It was so unlike the somber Gregorian Chant and Latin Mass I was used to.
But surely, those people spoke to God and He to them, if not in the manner of Pope Gregory, in a manner that God understood.
No catechism, no nun, no priest could tell me that these were people were not God's children, nor did they ever attempt to. So what if their prayers lacked the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur that saved us from doctrinal error? Would not the Christ Who forgave the repentant thief on the Cross, endure an "hallelujah!"?
It seems to me mainline Christianity has lost sight of His Message, so is it surprising that its less thoroughly ecclesiastical adherents may have drifted further still?
It is funny, we live in Deep South Texas on the coast. We have always gone to quiet calm boring Lutheran church. I had seriously considered going to a black Baptist church instead. They seem so lively and excited and the music is so awesome, but if this is a moderate black church, I think I will stick to boring church with boring music. At least the message at a Lutheran church is love, forgiveness, etc. as Christ taught us!